


Tower on the Edge of Forever

by orphan_account



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: M/M, Mirror Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-12
Updated: 2016-11-12
Packaged: 2018-08-30 15:05:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8537704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Kirk and Spock return to the Guardian of Forever to find out when and how the Mirror Universe was created.





	

Captain’s Log. Stardate 6590.34. Mr. Spock and I have been ordered by Starfleet command to investigate further the parallel universe in which I and my crew found ourselves six months ago. To that end, we have returned to the planet where we once found a portal to the past. If my hunch is correct, this portal will not only show us other times, but other universes as well. I want to find an answer to the question: Did this other, more brutal, universe, split off from our own, or was it always this way?”

 

“Well, I never thought we’d be here again, eh, Spock?” said Kirk. 

 

“Indeed, Captain. This cannot be an easy place to visit,” said Spock.

 

“You’re right about that Spock,” Kirk said. 

 

Spock was right, of course. The last time they were there, Dr. McCoy inadvertently prevented World War II and led to the Nazi occupation of Earth. To prevent it, Kirk had to watch Edith Keelor, the woman he loved, die. Spock was being sensitive about it, of course. He accepted Kirk’s other lovers even if he knew he was Kirk’s primary partner. That bond could not be broken even if they were both permitted to love and be loved by others.

 

And now they were back here with an entirely new mission. Could the Guardian move them within a multiverse as well as all of space and time? The planet itself was strewn with these portals. Some were large enough to drive a starship through. They could have beamed down to anyone but they chose the one they came down to before.

 

They approached the torus shaped portal as it glowed to life. A voice boomed from it.

 

“You have returned,” It was the Guardian of Forever. Their voice vibrated throughout the area, making their heads ache. “Did you wish to travel to another time period?”

 

“Yes,” said Kirk. “But we have questions.”

 

“Since before your sun burned hot in space and before your race was born, I have awaited a question,” the Guardian said.

 

“You are capable of sending us to other times or other dimensions. Is this true?” asked Spock.

 

“It is so,” said the Guardian.

 

“There is another universe, like ours, but more savage. I wish to see it,” Kirk said.

 

The portal glowed and images began flashing before them: Zephram Cochrane raiding a Vulcan lander, the I.S.S. Enterprise and its crew, and the history of the Terran Empire expanding its savagery across the galaxy. All of humanity’s worst instincts, most base desires, all marching toward this galactic despotism. 

 

“Is this the universe you speak of?” asked the Guardian.  
“It is,” Kirk answered.

 

“From what I can see, the history of both Earths is remarkably savage,” said Spock. “It may be difficult to determine where our universe ends and theirs begins.”

 

“Just watch the images,” said Kirk, ignoring another of Spock’s thinly veiled insults as the history reached the early 21st century and Kirk noticed a subtle shift. “There it is!” 

 

“It’s New York again,” said Spock, raising an eyebrow.

 

“Guardian. We need to return to our ship to prepare for this journey. Will you keep this portal to this world open until we return?” Kirk asked.

 

“I will do as you request,” the Guardian said.

 

The last time Kirk and Spock traveled through time, they wore their Starfleet uniforms and had no money. This time, they will be prepared. They beamed up to the ship and returned shortly in period clothing, Kirk in a plaid, button down shirt and tan pants and running shoes and Spock wearing a wool knit cap and black turtleneck and blue jeans. He wore a backpack with some equipment brought down from Engineering. They had identifications and local currency to use.

 

“You have returned,” said the Guardian. 

 

“When we go through the portal to this other reality, will we be able to return to our own reality, just as we left it?” asked Kirk.

 

“I can send you to all times, all realities, but you may return here just as you left it,” the Guardian answered.

 

Kirk turned to Spock.

 

“Then what are we waiting for?”

 

He grabbed his hand and they both ran through the portal.

 

It was a sensation of moving through water before they both emerged on the other side to a busy New York street, at night. The silence of the planet was replaced by the cacophonous noise of car horns, music, and busy people. They were quickly shoved aside by a passerby. 

 

“We'd better find a discreet spot and get our bearings,” Kirk said.

 

“Indeed,” said Spock. “Curious that the humans didn't notice our arrival. In fact, we just seemed to annoy them.”

 

Kirk looked down the street and saw people leaving a shop, all carrying white cardboard cups. 

 

“A feature of urban life in this era, I'm afraid, Spock,” Kirk explained. “People were too wrapped up in their own personal problems to notice what others were doing. We can get a coffee there, I believe.”

 

“I don't drink coffee.”

 

“I'm sure they have tea.”

 

They walked briskly down the street, with Kirk leading the way as he dodged people with their eyes on their phones. They arrived at coffee shop. Spock considered the sign.

 

“Captain,” he asked. “Is that a mermaid?”

 

Kirk put his fists on his hips, pouted slightly and looked at the sign. Then he shrugged and beckoned Spock to follow him in.

 

The café was sparsely populated, its few patrons either looking at their phones or laptops and appearing anxious. Kirk saw the line at the counter and approached the barista. 

 

“Um, a black coffee please?” Kirk asked.

 

“What size? Grande?” The barista asked. She wore her hair shaved in an undercut and dyed pink. On her green apron, she wore a pin. It was a flag bearing five stripes: light blue on top, then pink, then white in the middle, then pink, and finally blue on the bottom. Kirk smiled to himself. He recognized it from his studies of social movements of this era. 

 

“That would be...grande,” he replied as the barista rolled her eyes. 

 

“And you,” she asked, indicating Spock.

 

“Skinny soy chai latte. Grande,” Spock replied. 

 

“Are you two together?” she asked.

 

Kirk looked at Spock and smiled. 

 

“Yes,” he replied, not taking his eyes off him. “Yes, we are.”

 

“I meant are you paying together?” she asked with a sigh. 

 

“Oh, right. Yes,”

 

She gave them the total and Kirk paid. 

 

They took their drinks to a table by a window. Spock reached into his pack and pulled out a device with a keyboard and screen and switched it on.

 

“So that’s what you were making in engineering,” Kirk said.

 

“Indeed. You’ll recall the device I made was crudely put together with the primitive materials available to us at the time,” said Spock.

 

“But you were able to show that it was Edith Keelor’s death that maintained our own timeline and the peaceful future that awaited Earth.”

 

“Yes, Captain. With time to prepare, I was able to construct a device that would function in the same way but with more modern technology. And it’s designed to resemble a common computing device of this era. I had Mr. Sulu help with the specifications. It’s called a ‘Mack book,’ I believe.”

 

“Holy. Fucking. Shit.”

 

They both raised their heads and saw their barista looking at her phone before she wiped away a tear.

 

Kirk felt for her. He knew, even in his own timeline, this was not a good era for many people. He survived Kodos the Executioner and saw first hand what happens when people are singled out as “undesirable.” Better times were ahead in his universe but something happened here that sent this world into tyranny.

 

Spock was typing quickly and efficiently and brought up a video window. 

 

“Here, Captain.” Spock said. “This shows the events of our world from this point in time in November, 2016.”

 

A montage of images came up. The results of an election. Various conflicts and social movements. The Bell Riots. The Third World War in the 2050s, warp drive, First Contact, replicators, the United Federation of Planets. Just as they experienced.

 

“Now, the events of this universe,” said Spock. A second window came up with a new montage: a president election, social movements, conflicts, social breakdown, the imposition of tyranny, Zephram Cochrane raiding the Vulcan lander, the formation of the Terran Empire.

 

“Was it something about this particular election that caused this dark, ‘mirror universe’ to split off from our own, Mr. Spock?” 

 

Spock considered this question and returned to his device. 

 

“Negative, Captain. In both universes, the same man was elected president of the United States in 2016 and no other world event differs sufficiently to cause such a divergence,” said Spock at last.

 

Kirk took the device from Spock and brought up both videos and examined them closely and kept adding more detail about this era. Finally, he smiled to himself. 

 

“You know, Spock,” he said, pausing briefly before continuing. “The history books tell us that when technology took humans to the stars at speeds we never imagined and when technology provided for us all that we needed, it was then that Earth finally became peaceful. But I once told her your counterpart in this universe that in every revolution, there is one man with a vision. Putting aside the sexism in that statement, it isn’t entirely true. There is one person, yes, but that person is soon joined by others who keep the dream alive and who fight to make the dream a reality. Both our worlds face dark days from this day on but on our world, people kept dreaming of better days. When technology advanced to free us from want, it was because people were waiting for it. Here, people just stopped dreaming.”

 

Spock considered what his friend said.

 

“To visualize a better reality and work towards it. There is a certain logic in that,” he said. “So, we have our report to give to Starfleet now. Shall we return?”

 

“Yes, Mr. Spock,” said Kirk as he drained the rest of his coffee and tossed the cup in the trash, They gathered their things and headed for the door. Kirk felt at once energized by the resilience of the people in his own universe but at the same, helpless at being unable to do anything about the people in this coffee shop and what awaited them. He thought for a moment.

"Captain?" 

“Just wait a moment, Mr. Spock.”

 

***

 

Some time later, Kirk and Spock returned through the portal with a third person in tow. 

 

“What the hell was that?” the barista asked.

 

“A portal through another dimension,” Kirk answered. “You’ll find they pop up from time to time. Welcome to the 23rd century...uh?”

 

“My name is Tabitha,” she answered.

 

“Captain, may I remind you how many Starfleet regulations we’re breaking by bringing her here?” Spock asked.

 

Kirk shrugged.

 

“I’m tired of replicator coffee, ok?” he said, opening his communicator. “Kirk to Enterprise. Three to beam up.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was something I wanted to write since the election as a kind of therapy.


End file.
